Reassuringly, older, non-expired assessments do nonetheless appear to be selecting up new variants of the virus (though it’s price allowing for that we don’t understand how future variants would possibly evolve). However they’ve by no means been 100% correct, and so they nonetheless aren’t. (Antonio reviewed a couple of of the assessments again in 2021 and had blended outcomes.)

A research printed a few days in the past discovered that symptomatic individuals ought to actually take two assessments, 48 hours aside. And individuals who assume they may have been contaminated however don’t have signs ought to take a look at thrice.

A few months in the past, the WHO declared that covid was now not a public well being emergency of worldwide concern. Which sounds nice, till you notice it’s as a result of it’s now “a longtime and ongoing well being difficulty.” Oh, and it’s nonetheless a pandemic.

There can nonetheless be big spikes in case numbers, like final winter, when the WHO recorded over 44 million instances on December 19. And whereas deaths have fortunately declined, they do nonetheless occur. The latest knowledge we’ve means that 497 individuals died of covid within the week ending July 3. Deaths have been a lot increased in January of this yr, with 20,000 to 40,000 each week. Once more, these are simply the recorded covid deaths. The actual numbers are more likely to be increased.

Personally, I’m not as apprehensive about covid-19 as I used to be throughout the early days of the pandemic. That’s partly as a result of I’m totally vaccinated and have already had covid not less than twice. I’m additionally lucky sufficient to not have a situation that makes me weak to extreme illness.

However the elephant within the room is lengthy covid—one other hotly contested matter. (There was a very intense debate surrounding lengthy covid in kids, as I lined right here.) The situation continues to trigger lasting ache and struggling to an unknown however important variety of individuals. Scientists consider it’s doable to develop the situation after any an infection with the coronavirus.

So I’m conserving my unexpired assessments for now, simply in case.

Learn extra from Tech Evaluation’s archive

mRNA vaccines helped us via the pandemic. However they may additionally assist defend in opposition to many different infectious ailments, supply common safety in opposition to flu, and even deal with most cancers, as I lined in a chunk exploring what’s subsequent for this know-how.